Aristida purpurea var. purpurea grows in sandy to clay soils,
along right of ways, or on dry slopes and mesas. Its range extends from the
Flora region to Mexico and Cuba. As treated here, var. purpurea
is, admittedly, a catch-all taxon, incorporating slender plants with small spikelets
that used to be referred to A. roemeriana Scheele, but also occasional
plants with somewhat flexible branches that are intermediate to var.
wrightii and var. nealleyi.